Common Ground
by KatGrl2003
Summary: Sheppard and his team are captured offworld. What happens when a familiar face shows itself?


This is based on an Atlantis clip for the upcoming episode "Common Ground." It's about 5 seconds. And somehow, I'm getting a muti-chapter fic out of it? I have way to much time on my hands.

Summary: Sheppard and his team are captured off-world. What happens when a familiar face shows itself?

* * *

It's official. This has got to be one of the worst days of my life. First, my team gets shot at, then we get captured, and finally, an old buddy of mine shows his ugly face. All in all, a terrific day.

Maybe I should start at the beginning. It was a nice, normal day in Atlantis. I had woken up, gone for my morning run, and had just joined Ronon for breakfast when Weir's voice came over our headsets. "Colonel Sheppard, Specialist Dex, would you two please report to my office? Rodney's discovered something I think you should see." Both of us winced. Guess she was still upset about the food fight last week. But that's a story for another time.

Ya know, Rodney's always complaining that I'm too skinny, and I need to eat more. Maybe if he wouldn't interrupt my meals, then I would gain some weight. But knowing him, I'll be kept busy the rest of the day, activating Ancient crap until lunch. Looks like breakfast is another powerbar. If I didn't know any better, I'd think I was being punished for some cosmic misdeed.

We were still almost a corridor away when we heard Rodney's excited voice. I gave Ronon the "raised eyebrow" look. Yet another habit courtesy of our resident answerman. We finally rounded the corner to see Rodney gesturing wildly at the computer, while jabbering on about some scientific something or other. Lord only knows what the man has discovered now.

"Rodney! So lovely to see you this morning! So what has our resident genius discovered now?"

"Ah, something that even our resident Captain Kirk can understand," he answered with a grin.

"Are you ever gonna give that up?"

"Of course not. It gets the desired reaction, and with your track record with alien women… I'll let the facts speak for themselves." He seemed extraordinarily pleased with himself after that statement. For being one of my favorite scientists, he can be damned irritating at times.

Elizabeth, ever the diplomat, stopped the snark before it got out of hand. "Gentlemen, please." I think the "save us all a headache" wasn't supposed to be heard. "Rodney, would you please tell the colonel and Ronon what you've discovered?" Of course. Time for one of McKay's long winded speeches. I settled myself in for a nice nap.

Rodney punched a key, and the laptop on Weir's desk shifted scenes to a view of a planet. From what I could tell, it looked quite a bit like Earth. Green landmasses, blue oceans, white clouds. Nothing too remarkable about it. I would later regret that assessment.

"M38-459. Breathable atmosphere, lovely primitive people, and my personal favorite, energy readings!"

I mentally rolled my eyes. I knew that I was going to be given the chance to play chauffer for my favorite scientist to chase energy signals. Please. This was becoming so clichéd. How many times had we done this? We'd go to some distant planet, chase our tails, piss off some people, and come home. This seemed to be my life. Can't we go on a mission where I don't come to be in Carson's care? Or better yet, can I get a day off?

Rodney continued with his lecture. "The survey team did some initial scans of the areas around the gate. They recorded some energy readings, but weren't able to figure out what they meant. Of course, I was able to interpret them –" My glare seemed to hurry him along. "What's so exciting about these readings is that they are very similar to those of MG7-677 and Dagan. And you all know what that means!"

I immediately sat up straight. "Are you telling me this planet has a ZPM?"

"We have a winner! I knew there had to be some reason you passed the mensa test."

Teyla spoke up for the first time. "Pardon me, Dr. McKay, but are you sure we are not going on a wild goose chase?" She shot me a look. I hope my grin put her at ease. "We have encountered energy readings on many planets. How can we be sure that there is a ZPM on this planet?"

He gave a huge sigh, even for him. "I'm sure. These readings are definitely a ZedPM. There is one minor difference, which I believe may be indicative of a fully charged ZedPM."

I'm sold. The possibilities of having a fully charged ZPM, well, there's too many to think of. We wouldn't have to worry about the Wraith because of the shield. Heck, we could submerge the city! Oh, but of course, I'd have to test the new systems that would come online. There just had to be a downside.

I came back to reality with everyone staring at me. What? Do I have something on my face? Oh, right, the briefing. I caught Dr. Weir's gaze. She gave me a short nod. We had a go. "Well, then, who's up for a trip?"

"Really, these readings are incredible. They show-"

"Rodney."

"What?"

"We already know about the readings. We leave in an hour. Meet us in the Jumper bay."

"Oh." He walked off, still muttering to himself about different readings. I whipped my head around as he mentioned asking Carson about potential extraterrestrial pathogens.

Note to self: figure out why I became friends with an annoying hypochondriac like Rodney McKay.


End file.
